1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a female terminal fitting.
2. Description of the Related Art
U.S. Pat. No. 6,050,862 discloses a female terminal fitting with a tubular main portion that can receive a mating male tab inserted from the front and along the axial center of the main portion. A resiliently deformable contact piece extends back in the main portion and has a free end that slides on an inner surface of the main portion. An intermediate portion of the resilient contact piece is held in contact with a male tab inserted into the main portion. An inclined surface is formed on the inner surface of the main portion and enables the free end of the resilient contact piece to be displaced in a direction to extend a distance between the free end and the axial center of the main portion.
The ability of the free end of the resilient contact piece to slide on the inclined surface of the main portion in the above-described terminal fitting avoids a sudden increase of the insertion resistance of the male tab. However, a necessary contact pressure with the male tab is ensured by the sliding-down movement of the free end of the resilient contact piece on the inclined surface. Therefore the insertion stroke of the male tab is extended.
On the other hand, the extension of the insertion stroke of the male tab can be avoided by adopting a construction in which the horizontal inner surface of the main portion receives the free end of the resilient contact piece. However, in this case, the contact pressure suddenly increases due to frictional resistance between the free end of the resilient contact piece and the horizontal surface. Thus, as shown by a line Y in FIG. 4, a displacement width G of the contact portion of the resilient contact piece in a permissible range of the necessary contact pressure becomes smaller, thereby making gap management difficult.
The invention was developed in view of the above situation and an object thereof is to prevent the insertion stroke of a male tab from being extended and to facilitate gap management.